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Cricinfo honours Gilchrist
30/01/2008 11:36 - (SA)
New Delhi - Wicketkeeper-batsmen Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and Adam Gilchrist of Australia were among six cricketers honoured by a top website for their standout performances last year.
Indians Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh and Rudra Pratap Singh, and Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga were other winners of the inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting and bowling displays in all three forms of the game.
Gilchrist, who announced his retirement last week, won the one-day batting award for his blistering 149 against Sri Lanka in the Cricket World Cup final at Bridgetown.
Left-handed Sangakkara claimed the Test batting honour for his 192 against Australia in the second Test at Hobart, according to the awards list released by the website on Wednesday.
"The awards are a celebration of the best performances in the calendar year 2007, and even though they carry no monetary rewards, we are confident that cricketers will value the acclaim," said Cricinfo editor Sambit Bal.
Former cricketers
"Cricket awards are commonplace, but to us at Cricinfo they are a logical and inevitable extension of what we are about. We cover every ball bowled in cricket and we see ourselves as cricket's global voice."
The winners were selected by a jury comprising former cricketers Geoffrey Boycott, Ian Chappell, Daryll Cullinan, Tony Greig, Michael Holding, David Lloyd, Sanjay Manjrekar, Rameez Raja and Ravi Shastri.
"I have always thought that he (Sangakkara) is a class player and he proved that on the tour of Australia. His 192 in the second Test was a magnificent innings," said former Australia Test captain Chappell.
Left-arm seamer Zaheer bagged the Test bowling prize for taking five wickets in the second Test against England at Trent Bridge, which played a big role in India's first series win in England in 21 years.
"It was a really gritty performance by Zaheer, and the Indians will thank him for the memorable victory at Trent Bridge that allowed them to go on and win an exciting series", said England's Boycott.
Sri Lankan paceman Malinga won the one-day bowling award for grabbing four wickets off successive deliveries in a World Cup match against South Africa at Georgetown.
Bowling prize
Yuvraj Singh won the Twenty20 batting honours for his 70 against Australia in the World Championships semi-final at Durban.
Rudra Pratap claimed the Twenty20 bowling prize for his four wickets against South Africa in the same event which India won.
Cricinfo award winners:
Test batting: Kumar Sangakkara (SRI): 192 v Australia 2nd Test, Hobart
Test bowling: Zaheer Khan (IND): 5-75 v England, 2nd Test, Trent Bridge
One-day batting: Adam Gilchrist (AUS): 149 v Sri Lanka, Cricket World Cup final, Bridgetown
One-day bowling: Lasith Malinga (SRI): 4-54 v South Africa, Cricket World Cup, Georgetown
Twenty20 batting: Yuvraj Singh (IND): 70 v Australia, Twenty20 World Championship, semi-final, Durban.
Twenty20 bowling: Rudra Pratap Singh (IND): 4-13 v South Africa, Twenty20 World Championship, Durban.
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